Mortgage insurance grows popular.

Byline: Richard Craver

Mar. 20--Mortgage insurance is attracting more interest from homebuyers since a new law made the product tax deductible, and more lenders are insisting on the product as they tighten credit related to a cooling housing market, analysts said. The effect of the subprime-loan crisis is causing mortgage insurers, such as Triad Guaranty Inc. of Winston-Salem, to take at least a short-term financial hit, according to an analyst's report issued yesterday. "Subprime exposure, while limited, does present some degree of headline risk," wrote Paul Miller Jr., an analyst with Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. Inc. Mortgage insurance protects residential-mortgage lenders, such as banks, credit unions and mortgage brokers from …